honor & respect

people are worth something simply because they are
and God made them as such – worthy of love.

we don’t treat people with respect simply because they earned it
but because doing so is part of being a respectable person ourselves
and because doing so – despite people’s blatant disservice to their own natural worth –
is a reminder to us and them of what is good and true and beautiful
whether that beauty is present or only a faint possibility
grasping at straws and God’s grace.

i’m realizing ‘the little man’ is not just the poor and the downtrodden
but also the one who has shot himself in the foot
by ruining his respectability –
and mucking over all obvious reason as to why they should be treated well
by sheer stupidity, ignorance, or outright cruelty.

there is so much honor in standing to love these people
even when they cannot be supported or agreed with.